Nordhaus-Gaddum-type theorem for total proper connection number of graphs

A graph is said to be \emph{total-colored} if all the edges and the vertices of the graph are colored. A path $P$ in a total-colored graph $G$ is called a \emph{total-proper path} if $(i)$ any two adjacent edges of $P$ are assigned distinct colors; $(ii)$ any two adjacent internal vertices of $P$ are assigned distinct colors; $(iii)$ any internal vertex of $P$ is assigned a distinct color from its incident edges of $P$. The total-colored graph $G$ is \emph{total-proper connected} if any two distinct vertices of $G$ are connected by a total-proper path. The \emph{total-proper connection number} of a connected graph $G$, denoted by $tpc(G)$, is the minimum number of colors that are required to make $G$ total-proper connected. In this paper, we first characterize the graphs $G$ on $n$ vertices with $tpc(G)=n-1$. Based on this, we obtain a Nordhaus-Gaddum-type result for total-proper connection number. We prove that if $G$ and $\overline{G}$ are connected complementary graphs on $n$ vertices, then $6\leq tpc(G)+tpc(\overline{G})\leq n+2$. Examples are given to show that the lower bound is sharp for $n\geq 4$. The upper bound is reached for $n\geq 5$ if and only if $G$ or $\overline{G}$ is the tree with maximum degree $n-2$.

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